Way of the Blade
by WolfbrotherTitan
Summary: A moment of anger changes Naruto's life forever as with no one to turn to he does the unthinkable and tries to set free the Kyuubi, but in that rash action hope is born and Naruto finds the family he had always before been denied.


**I am too lazy to be the owner of either Naruto or Bleach.**

It would never be said that Naruto had a happy life. He spent the first four years of his life in an orphanage, but was kicked out just after his birthday. He then spent two months living on the streets of Konoha until the Hokage returned from his annual meeting with the Fire Lord. Sarutobi was upset and tried to get Naruto accepted back into the orphanage as he knew the council would block anyone from adopting the boy, but the orphanage was a civilian run organization and so his request was denied. The council also blocked his attempts to house the boy in his own home, saying that without adopting the boy it would be inappropriate and a distraction to allow the boy to live with someone.

Danzo offered a solution in that the boy could be housed with his personal guard, ROOT, if he were to join. He assured the council that the boy would never be better trained or more loyal than if he joined ROOT, but Sarutobi blocked that with enough votes from the shinobi council's aid and he then got Naruto his own apartment and a monthly allowance to live off of. So from the age of four he lived on his own, having to buy all his own supplies and pay his own bills.

After a few months he realized that he was being overcharged for everything except his bills, since the building belonged to the Hokage, but there was little he could do about it at first.

Two years passed like this until Naruto, having watched various ninja training, learned his soon to be infamous sexy jutsu, which he then used regularly to get lower prices on his purchases, at least until he was caught using it and people realized it was him. Luckily that trick bought him a year of lower than normal prices and he saved a lot. Also, as he turned seven he entered the academy where he quickly adapted his sexy jutsu into the henge, or a form of it anyway, though he had to keep his success to himself in order to use his alternate sexy jutsu forms to shop.

All of that though was after a certain incident when he was only five. It was his birthday and though the Hokage had asked him to stay in he was tempted by the celebrations outside and went to join the fun, a mistake that would cost him.

He had gone from booth to booth, playing games and eating the foods that he could afford, it was then he discovered ramen as he spent a great deal of time at the Ichiraku's stand where he earned lifelong friends in the father and daughter. After leaving the stand he had spent all he'd saved for the event and was heading back to his apartment when a drunken villager chucked a beer bottle at him, hitting him in the back of the head. The next thing he knew was the sound of cheers and then he was attacked from all sides, then there was nothing but blackness.

When he had awoken he was told he had been in a coma for two weeks and that in that time his home had been broken into and his possessions destroyed. Sarutobi took a week off, leaving several trusted ANBU in charge of the day to day running of the village while he was away. During that week he introduced Naruto to two fields of ninja life the more recent generations had been neglecting: traps and stealth. The one to protect his home and the other to protect himself, but Naruto would later combine what he had learned in that week to become known as the 'Prankmaster from hell', and his first victim was one particular drunken villager.

This all led up to his eighth birthday, which he spent outside the village to avoid the people who might try to hurt him. He'd left his apartment so thoroughly trapped that the first 20 to 30 people who tried anything would likely come out embarrassed or lightly injured if they made it too far. The best thing was that some of his traps could actually reset themselves…if given enough time. He had little doubt that enough people would try to get in that they would eventually get past his traps, and if any ninja joined in his traps wouldn't last long at all, but at least some people should be embarrassed enough not to show their faces for a few days afterword.

While outside the village walls he decided to try meditating like one of his classmates suggested but while trying to calm his breathing he fell asleep and found himself in a sewer. _Great, I'm dreaming of my time on the streets again,_ he thought. He sighed and started to walk around. Previously, when he'd had this dream, he had been able to hear heavy breathing like that of a large creature snoring. Maybe if he was lucky he'd finally figure out what the monster that lurks in his dreams was.

Eventually he came upon a large cage with a small piece of paper on it that had the kanji for 'seal' on it. He was just reaching for the paper when two giant glowing red eyes appeared from the other side of the bars and a deep, resonant voice said, **"We need to talk…"**

When Naruto awoke the next day he made his way to the Hokage's office and barged in. "When were you going to tell me jiji?" he demanded.

Sarutobi sighed. He knew this day might come sooner than he expected, but just to check which secret Naruto had discovered he asked, "What might you be talking about Naruto-kun?"

Naruto had never been able to stay mad at his 'jiji' for long and he'd held this anger for the last couple hours, so when he said, "About the Kyuubi no Kitsune being sealed up inside my gut," his voice was already significantly calmer. "Why didn't you tell me that was why the people hate me?" and that question just came out resigned.

Sarutobi took a puff on his pipe before answering, "Ah, that. Well, I had planned to tell you once you had graduated the academy. I felt that by then you would be ready to hear it and that you might even be able to learn to control that energy. If you did it would be a valuable skill for you." He sighed, then asked, "How did you find out?"

"I was meditating and I fell asleep. I'd been having dreams for years where I'd get right outside the room with the cage and then wake up, but last night I got to the cage and the Kyuubi was awake. It started to explain what had happened as it remembered that day, but I woke up as it, or, I guess, he, was explaining that he had been attacked by people wearing Konoha headbands and he was out for revenge. He said that he reacted stronger than he intended and seemed confused about it, that he intended only a minor rebuke to Konoha, but once he got here he went into a blind rage. That was when I woke up. So is it true, did Konoha shinobi attack the Kyuubi?"

Taking a puff on his pipe Sarutobi thought about it, then said, "I have never heard reports of it, but I won't dismiss it either, especially not if what you describe is true. It sounds as if the demon might have been being controlled, but there is only one force that I have ever heard tell that could possibly influence such a being. Still, we are talking about a demon, it is likely it was lying, but even if it was not it does not matter much now, it is sealed in you and its' power is yours if you can learn to control it. …If you find yourself talking to it again be careful, it can't hurt you without hurting itself but that doesn't mean it is friendly."

They talked a bit more and then went out for ramen.

**XXX**

The Hokage of Konoha reports to the Fire Lord at least once a year. Each trip can last for as little as two weeks to as much as three months, though a village without its' Kage is at too great a risk to allow the later to happen too often; however, that very thing happened as the Hokage left just after Naruto's birthday one year and wasn't able to get back for those three months. During a part of this time the only other individuals who care for Naruto were also out of the village: the Ichiraku's on a supply run for some ingredients that hadn't come in for a while, and the ANBU members Inu, Weasel, and Cat all out on a mission. There were others who cared for Naruto that he didn't know, and many others that were indifferent to the boy, but for all he could tell, during this time there was not a soul in Konoha that seemed to care if he lived or died, and many would prefer him dead.

During the first month of this time he noticed that he had more attempted break-ins and civilians attempting to assault him so he stepped up his usual response to such things: pranking. Unfortunately, the first effect of this was the civilian council trying to imprison the boy on trumped up charges, but Ibiki, who Sarutobi had left in charge, along with most of the shinobi council, blocked all such attempts.

In the second month, physical attacks were stepped up on the boy, led by one member of the civilian council who understood that the chances of killing the 'demon brat' would lessen if he became a fully fledged ninja, both because the boy would grow in strength and because attacking a ninja carries legal repercussions. So, during this month Naruto was attacked on a regular basis, he was sneered at, glared at, and denied access to medical care at the hospital.

It was after one such beating that he crawled back to his home and collapsed into his bed and instantly fell asleep and, for the first time since that time he told Sarutobi, he found himself in the sewer that seemed to be his mind. After the beating he'd first been upset, nearly to the point of crying, but now he was just mad, and while his anger rarely lasts long it burns hot right up until he gets over it. So finding himself in front of the Kyuubi's cage Naruto was so mad he walked right up and ripped the seal right off the cage. The Kyuubi had been asleep when this happened, but when the seal was removed its' eyes suddenly flashed open and the first thing it saw was the shocked look on Naruto's face as he stared open mouthed at the half of the seal in his hand.

Kyuubi began laughing until he gasped out, **"Finally got mad enough at them huh? Well you just created a whole new game plan for your life kit."** Rather than explain though the fox just began laughing again and shoved Naruto out of the cage area.

Naruto flew through the sewer, somehow missing walls and ending up somewhere completely different. In fact, once he got his bearings and looked around, he realized that he was on top of the Hokage monument, though when he looked again he saw that some things weren't quite right, so he knew he wasn't back in the real world. Frankly, he was pretty happy to learn that his whole mindscape wasn't a sewer as he didn't like to think what that would say about him.

It was as he was looking around that someone snuck up behind him and said, "Well hello son, I'm glad we finally get to meet in person…well, sort of."

When Naruto looked he saw a tall man with blond hair a little longer than his own and blue eyes the same exact shade as his own, wearing a standard ninja outfit with the vest ninja of Konoha are given when they become chunin, over which he wore a white cloak with red flames along the bottom. He was also scratching the back of his head in amused embarrassment, much like Naruto himself often did, it was about then that what the man had said registered and he yelled, "WHAT!"

The man rubbed his ears a bit and said, "Keep it down a bit won't you son. Anyway, I first want to apologize for putting you in this mess in the first place. If it wasn't for me sealing the Kyuubi in you your life would have been very different."

Now Naruto usually thought fairly slowly, even to the point where people thought he was stupid just because it often took him longer than others to answer a question, but things that interest him come fairly quickly. With a pointed finger he accused, "YOU'RE THE YONDAIME HOKAGE!"

Minato winced at the decibel level his son was getting to, from reviewing his memories he'd only ever known Haruno's to go that high. Once he'd recovered he sheepishly said, "Yes, I _was_ the Yondaime son." He gave Naruto a moment to gather his thoughts, but it didn't look like the boy was going to regain the use of speech any time soon so he said, "Well, since you're here, I'd like to say that I'm proud of you. Even upset you only removed half of the seal; that was smart since removing the whole seal would have freed Kyuubi to take your body and kill you."

Now it was Naruto's turn to look sheepish as he lowered his head and mumbled out that, "I meant to do just that. I guess I just got so tired of it all and…" but he was stopped as Minato put his hand on his shoulder.

"It's okay son. I know what you've been through since I've been able to watch your life from in here. I guess I was too optimistic when I asked the villagers to see you as a hero, but you do understand that I couldn't ask someone else to sacrifice their child if I wasn't willing to do so right?" Calmer now, Naruto nods and Minato said, "Good. Now, I'm not sure what all of the consequences there may be from removing part of the seal like you did. At the least you probably just released a lot of chakra into your system, which will cost you a lot of control, but it also got you here so now I can help you out a bit. You're probably wondering why I'm here, right?"

"Well, a bit, yeah."

"It's simple really. In order to ensure you had a defense if something ever happened I placed a small portion of my soul into the seal. Just enough that if something happened, like the Kyuubi nearly getting loose, I'd be able to reset the seal. Now, what you did isn't what I set this part of myself for, I can't restore your image of the seal. In fact, what I said earlier isn't necessarily true; the internal form the seal takes might not release the Kyuubi at all, even if you had removed the whole thing. As is I should have the strength to train you in small ways like chakra control and taijutsu. I can also teach you some jutsu, but I don't have chakra so I can't demonstrate and this is your mind so supplies are limited to what you have so while I can teach you seals, my personal specialty, it will be slow going. I should also be able to improve your accuracy with throwing weapons with some tips."

Naruto had stars in his eyes, he was going to get taught by the Yondaime Hokage who was also his own father, but a moment later his brow creased and he asked, "But how are you going to teach me? I mean, it has been just over a year since the last time I was able to get to the Kyuubi's cage so how long will it be before the next time I can get here?"

Minato just laughed and said, "Now that you've removed part of the seal you'll be able to get here a lot easier. Actually, pretty much every time you fall asleep you'll end up here and once here it's a simple matter to find your way to me. Also, time works a little different while you're here, sometimes it will be a little slower while other times a little faster, but one way or another you should get a few hours a night of training in addition to whatever you do during the day."

"Cool! …But can I really learn while sleeping?"

"Of course you can. It's true you won't get stronger or faster, and muscle memory requires you to work on what you learn once you wake up, otherwise you'd know it but spend any real fight having to think about what you want to do. Once you develop the muscle memory for something it'll come easier, but you should be able to work on chakra control in here since that's primarily mental, and you can learn the basics of what I said earlier. As your muscle memory improves you'll be ready for the next lessons, same thing with chakra control. Speaking of, there are three standard forms of chakra control exercises I'll be able to teach you: leaf balancing, tree climbing, and water walking. Unfortunately, you won't really be able to learn water walking in here until you've at least started learning out in the real world. Well, any questions?"

Jumping up and down and looking a lot like he needed to pee Naruto excitedly asked, "When do we start!"

Minato laughed and said, "Right now if you like, but there is one other thing I want you to learn while out in the real world."

Confused, Naruto asked, "What's that dad?" He said it to try it out and Minato smiled before a stern look came onto his face.

"I want you to get a sword and start learning kenjutsu."

"Ken-what?" Naruto asked.

Face palming, Minato said, "It means the art of the blade."

"Oh, okay, but why do you want me to learn that? I've studied everything I could about you and none of it said you ever used a sword, so how can you teach me that?"

Smiling broadly Minato said, "I can't."

Sweat dropping Naruto asked, "Then why?"

Still smiling Minato just said, "It's a surprise. Now, are you ready to start training?" Naruto nodded and they began with leaf balancing, though because of his recent boost in chakra he didn't get very far that night. He tried for what felt like a day and couldn't get it at all, but Minato said that he was getting closer and just before Naruto was going to wake up Minato said, "Remember, go to Sarutobi and sell him that information I told you about in exchange for a sword, a practice sword, and the cost of lessons from Hayate Gekko…if he's willing anyway."

Naruto nodded again and went to hug his dad, but woke up just before he could wrap his arms around Minato. Once Naruto was gone Minato sighed and said, "I should also get him to start reading for pleasure, there's nothing to do in here." Sighing again he wandered down to the village and looked around, of course he could only go places that Naruto had been and since he wasn't let into most places in the village that meant he couldn't either. "Damn them," he whispered to himself, lowering his head in shame.

**XXX**

That morning, back in the real world, Naruto woke up and got ready for the day. It was Sunday so there weren't classes at the academy, so once he was ready he went off to see if the Hokage had gotten back yet, but no such luck.

For the next month he worked hard. During the nights his father would try to teach him something, and he'd do his best to master it out in the real world. He eventually got the leaf balancing, but before his dad would teach him the next step he demanded that Naruto get to the point where he could balance five leaves on different parts of his body for a full hour without stopping. While Naruto was doing this his father would tell him stories, both real life experiences he had of battles and fiction stories; the first to help Naruto with various battle tactics and the second to encourage the boy to gain a love of reading.

By the end of the month Naruto was only at two leaves, but his taijutsu was coming along, though for now Minato refused to teach him his personal style, mainly focusing on the academy style because it works so well as a base form to build future skills from. Also, he'd managed to learn the basics of fuuinjutsu, that is to say that he learned to make his brush strokes perfect and how to draw a proper array, but he couldn't yet do anything with it. Meanwhile, his basic three were coming along. He had had his own form of henge before, but now he could do the real thing which gave him several advantages such as not letting people learn that what he did before was actually a shapeshift, using less chakra for a similar result, and opening up the world of genjutsu to him. He also mastered the kawarimi and got enough of the basics of the regular bunshin that Minato started to teach him the kage bunshin, though even that technique needed some level of chakra control so it was slow going, but Minato said that by the time Naruto got to three leaves on his control lesson he should get it.

While out in the real world Naruto has been following his dad's recommendation of staying under the radar and so has only been showing a small portion of his improvements to his teachers and classmates. He did leave the position of dead last behind to some nobody in class and has now gotten just under the middle of the class in practical lessons while allowing his book grades to stay down. Uniquely, because his teachers had always given Naruto higher grade level tests Minato was able to teach Naruto from those, so now his book skills would probably rate him smarter than Sakura. That was another of the changes that became apparent to the class, he no longer chased after Sakura's attention and there were two results of this that he hadn't intended: a shy girl became a bit more confident as she now believed she might have a chance with the boy she admired and Sakura fell into a state of depression and very nearly quit the academy.

She didn't understand why she always seemed depressed all of a sudden, but it cost her grades deeply and she fell in the class rankings. A side result of this being that before Sakura could quit entirely her old friend Ino encouraged her and they stopped calling each other names, though there rivalry, if anything, heated up and both girls began practicing their physical skills.

**XXX**

When the Hokage did finally get back to the village he went to his office to find his desk covered in backed-up paperwork and he cried anime style tears for a minute before he read the note from Ibiki that said next year he'd have to find someone else to do the job. Eventually though he got to work and sorted the stacks by what priority each document held. He also removed the duplicates, keeping only the most recent of each. He had arrived back in Konoha just after noon and all of this took until just before midnight, so he sighed and went to bed.

The next morning while busy at work on a Kage's greatest enemy there came a knock on the door and he eagerly called, "Enter," and in walked Naruto. The Hokage was a little surprised that the boy had knocked, but was generally happy to see him so he smiled widely and asked, "Naruto-kun, what can I do for you today, and how have you been all this time?"

Naruto had long since decided not to tell Sarutobi he'd become so mad he'd tried to release Kyuubi on the village, he wasn't sure the old man would take the news as well as his dad had. He'd also decided not to tell him he knew who his dad had been as Minato had said he hadn't wanted Naruto to know that until he was either a chunin or Sarutobi felt he was ready for that information. With the two biggest events of the past months unavailable for the boy to talk about he decided to tell the truth, just not all of the truth, so he smiled in an obviously fake way and said sadly, "It was probably the worst so far jiji, but don't worry, what doesn't kill me will only make me stronger, right?"

Sarutobi just sighed and hung his head in shame. He knew Naruto wouldn't give details so he could punish anyone, but he also knew that if he looked close enough at the people who Naruto pranked he'd find some of them and, even if he'd be unable to punish them without evidence, he'd be able to keep a closer eye on that person. When he raised his head Naruto's smile was a bit happier and they talked for a while before Sarutobi sighed and said he had to get back to work but that he'd like to see him for dinner tonight so they could catch up some more.

The prospect of free food always made Naruto happy so he smiled widely and accepted, but before he left a serious expression took his face and he said, "I have a proposal to offer you Hokage-sama."

The respectful tone and phrase were almost as out of place as the expression so Sarutobi took him seriously and said, "Oh, and what might that be?" as he leaned back in his chair and lit his pipe.

Naruto let him take a puff of his pipe before saying, "I've learned of a way you can do all of your paperwork in about a third the time and all the while be sitting back enjoying that little orange book in your upper left hand desk drawer."

Sarutobi choked on the smoke he'd just inhaled and sputtered a moment before composing himself and asking, "And how would you have learned such a skill Naruto-kun?"

"Oh I can't do it, not yet at least, but I found someone willing to help me with some of my studies while you were gone. He was a traveling ninja, retired from active service he said, and has since moved on, but he said I have too much chakra to ever learn the regular bunshin without near perfect chakra control so he gave me a few lessons to help me out."

"I see," Sarutobi said. He didn't think anyone dangerous could have gotten to the boy with the guards that should have been watching him, and he seemed okay so he decided he'd do better to leave off questioning about this person more for now. "Well, if this person did tell you a way to do paperwork that much faster I'd be glad to pay almost any price, so why don't you tell me what it is you want for it Naruto-kun?"

"Well, the man made me promise I'd try to learn kenjutsu so that's what I want, a wooden practice sword and then a real sword once my teacher says I'm ready, and of course the teacher. The man said that the current best kenjutsu teacher in the village was Hayate Gekko, so if he's available and willing, I'd like him to teach me."

Sarutobi thought of something then and was more curious than ever about whom this mystery person was. Still, if the man wasn't in the village it would be unlikely he could do anything harmful to the boy, and whatever else he did trust Naruto's instincts about people so if he allowed this person to help him then it's probably okay. Decision made he said, "I will agree to all of your terms so long as you introduce this man to me should he ever come back to the village, and of course so long as this method works, deal?"

Naruto had no problem with that as his dad was VERY unlikely to enter the village, at least in the real world, so he said, "Deal. The solution to the problem of paperwork is kage bunshin. The guy told me that whatever they learn the original learns when they disperse, though he did warn me that the more reading and paperwork they're assigned to the fewer that should be used because otherwise you can have information overload. He said that when he first learned it he sent a few to the library to read, but that he'd sent too many and that he'd had a major headache for days' afterword. Later he found the ideal number to be three, though less complex tasks could be done by as many as he could make without more than momentary discomfort afterword. He even taught me the jutsu, even if he did make me promise I wouldn't try it for real my first time until I had someone I trust around to supervise."

Sarutobi was stunned and humbled, all together he had more than thirty years as Hokage facing paperwork and he'd never thought to use kage bunshin to help. After collecting himself he went outside and gathered two desks and chairs and brought them back in, formed a cross seal and created two clones and set them to work, they agreed to do it, but only if he would read from Jiraiya's book out load so they could enjoy it too. The Hokage scowled, thinking shadow clones were troublesome, and at the same moment several male Nara's sneezed unexpectedly. He agreed to their terms though he'd only read aloud with the privacy seals active and that meant no more than one hour during the day. The clones said he if he read aloud during his lunch breaks as well they would agree and, deciding that at worst he would expose his reading habits to more people than those who already knew, he agreed.

Once that was settled the old Hokage blushed a bit that Naruto had heard all that and he cleared his throat before saying, "That will work nicely, and thank you Naruto-kun. I will inform Hayate and, as long as he is amenable, you should be able to start lessons by the next day off from the academy. Speaking of which, why aren't you at the academy now Naruto-kun?"

Naruto laughed nervously and said, "I was hoping you could write me a note to excuse me today?"

Smiling somewhat evilly the old man said, "If you'd wanted that you should have added that to your payment Naruto-kun." In his head he was laughing maniacally and thought, _He may be younger, but it's a long time before he'll be wiser._ He looked at the clock on the wall behind Naruto and said, "Hmm, if you hurry you just might make it in time for third period, though you'll miss out on lunch." Seeing the look on Naruto's face he decided to go easy on the boy and wrote a quick note and then he said, "Here, this excuses you from your first two classes for today saying you performed a service for the village and shouldn't be punished. I am not excusing you from third period so you will miss lunch, but to make it up to you I'll pay for your first ten large bowls of ramen tonight. Now go on, I'll see you later and I should be able to tell you Hayate-san's response by then."

Naruto grabs the note, shouts, "Hai jiji," and is off like a rocket out the window and bouncing from rooftop to rooftop for the academy.

Sarutobi squints after him and thinks, _Hmm, he's gotten a bit faster._

One of the clones irritably says, "It's reading time now so I'll tell the secretary to hold all appointments and visitors for the next hour and then activate the security seals, and we won't go back to work until you start reading." The other clone nods his agreement and after the first is back and the seals are activated Sarutobi sighs and starts to read aloud, often causing the clones to giggle as the original blushes a little having to read it to someone, even if they are only clones of himself.

**XXX**

Later that night, the Hokage and Naruto meet at Ichiraku's and eat their fill (two bowls for Sarutobi and twelve for Naruto, and the Hokage paid for them all) and Sarutobi informs the young man that Hayate has agreed to take him on as a probationary student, meaning he'll teach Naruto but only if Naruto shows some promise and interest in learning, and he was presented with a practice sword and give the homework of one thousand each: right shoulder to left hip slash and its' opposite, downward and upward slashes, thrusts, and vertical slashes both left and right. He was to do this each day until Saturday when he would meet Hayate at training ground 23 at precisely 8am, at which time he would then demonstrate his thousands for his teacher who had said he would know if Naruto had missed a day of his homework and if he had that he would not teach him anything, ever.

Naruto gulped, but nodded his acceptance and after dinner he said goodbye to Sarutobi and went home. There he cleared a space and did his prescribed workout, even though he'd been told he needn't start until the next day. Afterword he collapsed into bed, barely pulling the covers up before falling asleep.

On that next day he did everything normal and when he got home he did his exercises again, but went ahead and did an extra 500 of each set. Afterword his arms felt like led and he was tired, but he hadn't had dinner yet so he managed to prepare something small and eat, then collapse on his bed once more. He still had two days until Saturday and his first kenjutsu lesson and he was eager to impress this new sensei so over those days he managed to get up to the point where he was doing two full sets of the thousands with his practice sword.

On Saturday he got up did his routine, including one last set of thousands, and got ready all before 7am, and by 8 he was at the training ground. When Hayate arrived he was pleasantly surprised to find the boy stretching and getting ready. He immediately knew it was the correct boy since everyone in Konoha would recognize him at first sight and he coughed a few times before saying, "Alright, show me your thousands," and Naruto immediately nodded and began.

His form wasn't great, but all he was doing was basic slashes and his stance, where most of his problem was, was easily corrected. Once Naruto was done Hayate nodded and said, "Good, but watch me and do as I do. Pay special attention to how much or how little my whole body moves, and how I keep my feet," and he began to do the thousands the proper way. When he finished he said, "Now try again," and Naruto did. He went a little slower with his motions this time, but his stance and footwork was almost perfect, causing Hayate to smile. Afterword, Hayate smiled and said, "Good. From now until you earn your blade you are Shirōto, if you get to that point I will call you Minarai, and you may call me Hayate-sensei in public, but otherwise you will call me Jukuren."

Naruto bows deeply from the waist and says, "Hai Jukuren."

**XXX**

The next two years of his life were spent in this manner. According to Minato Naruto's actual skills put him at high genin to low chunin on his taijutsu, speed, and strength, while his stamina was high jonin, and his chakra reserves were well past Kage, though his control for all of that would put him somewhere between high chunin and low jonin. He wasn't sure where his kenjutsu rating would actually put him though Hayate had yet to give the boy a blade and his fuuinjutsu skills were somewhere just below the first level of mastery, meaning he could make or break all the basic seals, but the more complex ones still eluded him, and he wasn't yet to the point where he could make up his own seals.

Once he achieved the last two skills he would achieve true mastery, meaning other seal masters would have to acknowledge him a master as well, but it was slow going as the necessary material simply weren't available to Naruto to study and Minato could only explain so much without being able to reference something. They'd gotten as far as they had by drawing the seals in the dirt, but the more complex seals were too intricate and delicate to draw without supplies which Naruto couldn't make in his head.

Other than his skills, he'd developed a love of reading and was often seen walking around town with his face buried in a book like a certain masked jonin, though Naruto didn't much care for porn so the books he was seen reading never bothered those around him. Actually, this habit improved several peoples' views of him because they couldn't imagine the great Kyuubi no Kitsune reading so it helped differentiate the boy from the demon inside. The chief librarian, one Karin Haruno, mother to Sakura Haruno, lover of books, and councilwoman, came up to him one day and offered him a library card which he gladly accepted. Before then his reading had consisted of whatever he could borrow from the Hokage, whose fiction section was composed mostly of Jiraiya's books. From that day on Naruto usually sent three clones to the library to read whatever they could. Unfortunately, he wouldn't receive access to the shinobi section of the library until he was officially a genin.

**XXX**

It was a few days after newyears and a few short months before Naruto's graduation from the ninja academy when Hayate presented Naruto with his first blade, an ordinary katana. It had no designs or gilt, nothing to draw attention to it, it was merely a tool, but like any good tool Hayate first instructed Naruto in how to clean and maintain his blade, then he got Naruto accustomed to the different weight by having him go through his thousands three times. After that he taught him to sheath and unsheath his blade quickly both from his hip and his back, and just to stay even he also had him draw and sheath the blade from the opposite side on both his hip and back.

After about a month of getting Naruto used to his blade Hayate finally called him Minarai for the first time, causing the attention starved boy to leap at Hayate and hug him for all he was worth. Once Naruto had let go Hayate told him that from then on he was to go nowhere except to bed and shower or bath without his blade. It was a part of him as much as his hands and arms, and just as one could not leave home without those, neither should one who claims to follow the way of the blade ever willingly be separated from it.

**XXX**

One thing that concerned Sarutobi was that in all this time, from when Naruto had found out about the Kyuubi to now, Naruto had spent comparitively little time with anyone his own age. The closest would be Ayame Ichiraku, but she was almost five years older than him and she was a civilian. He needed to form attachments with his peers, because if there was one thing Sarutobi didn't want it was a new Itachi.

**XXX**

The night Naruto received his blade he went to bed early so he'd have plenty of time to talk with his day in the seal. It was difficult to think about it even after all this time, but he litterally carried around a piece of his father everywhere he went. Sometimes it made falling asleep hard as he didn't always get to the place where he could train instead of dream, but as he fell asleep he immediately opened his eyes to find himself in his dreamscape sewer. Before he could head off to find his dad the Kyuubi called out, **"Kit, come here for a bit."**

Naruto was a little surprised, the Kyuubi rarely talked to him, it mostly just slept on unless something interesting was happening outside. That was one of the consequences of removing part of the seal it seemed, the Kyuubi saw everything Naruto saw, he even felt, tasted, touched, smelled, and heard everything Naruto did, and as the incident also enhanced all five senses it was a lot of contact with the outside world for the trapped Kitsune. It was also deemed a good thing because otherwise the fox probably would have been very irritable without those windows to freedom. Similarly, it was wise to do as the Kyuubi asked, and since it didn't even talk to him most of the time this seemed a small request so Naruto went to see the fox, "The wonderful fox of the sewers," he mumbled.

"**I heard that kit,"** came the somewhat menacing voice and Naruto rolled his eyes and the voice said, **"And I saw that, now hurry up."**

Soon Naruto ended up in front of the cage and called out, "So what do you want Kyuubi?"

"**Nothing really, but you need to stay here for the next hour or so. When it's time I'll send you along, but for now just create some clones and work on your chakra control,"** and to make sure Naruto stayed the Kyuubi manipulated the room enough to close off the way out, it then lay back down and looked like it was going to sleep

Naruto glared at the demon; it was his mind and he couldn't do things like that, but ever since he'd removed part of the seal the Kyuubi could alter things like it was nothing. This ability was most evident whenever he and his dad looked up at the Hokage monument from the village and saw the Kyuubi's likeness over shadowed the rest of the images. There were also several statues and fountains of the demon in the villiage.

Naruto sighed and did as Kyuubi suggested since he knew he wouldn't be able to leave this room unless it let him, and, after about two hours, the great eyes opened once again and blinked seeing the army clones locked in a taijutsu battle while standing on the walls and ceiling. He yawned and asked, **"What are you still doing here kit? The passage opened a half hour ago, if you don't hurry they'll start up again and you'll see more than you want."**

All of the Narutos stop fighting and look at the Kyuubi before the clones dispell and the original stands before the demon and confusedly asks, "They? What do you mean they? It's just you, me, and dad in here, and what could I see that I wouldn't want to see?"

"**Enough questions, just go and find out,"** and before Naruto could object he was sent hurtling through the path to the other section of his mind where he does indeed see two people: his dad and a beautiful woman with long red hair.

Naruto lands on his butt and tumbles a few times but pops up like nothing happened and simply asks, "What's going on dad?"

Minato wraps the now tearful woman up in a one armed hug and, smiling, says, "I'd like to introduce you to your mom son," but he didn't get any farther than that as she instantly launched herself at Naruto and huged him tightly. It turns out that she had arrived during the day and reviewed Naruto's memories so she was whispering repeatedly that she loved him because she knew that was one thing Naruto desperatedly needed.

Another thing he desperately needed though was air and she was holding him a little too tightly. When she noticed this she let up a bit, but didn't release him, and he was finally able to return her embrace.

After a time they both composed themselves and Naruto asked, "How can you be here Mom?"

His ability to instantly accept both parents, his dad years ago and now his mom, brought a smile to both their faces and a few tears to Kushina's as it was the first time her baby boy called her that. After a bit more time they started to tell each other their life stories, though Kushina didn't say why she was there yet.

Some time passed and this newly reunited family got to know each other again, but eventually it was time to answer the question Naruto had earlier asked so Minato said, "Son, the reason your mom has shown up here is because you have a bloodline that has now been activated."

Kushina took up the explanation from there, "You get the bloodline from me and what it is basically is the ability to use reiryoku, which is the spiritual aspect of chakra. Most people can learn to use chakra, the combination of the physical, mental, and spiritual energies in the body, but since spiritual energies are difficult to train for most people it's usually linked to the mental energies. Now, the advantage of being able to use just reiryoku is that it allows us to use abilities that are unique to those with our bloodline, and that bloodline is linked to your blade, that's why your father told you to start learning kenjutsu. Also, now that you've met me here your blade is no longer what it was, it's now what is called a zanpakutō and is more a part of you than any amount of training could ever have made it. Now that I'm here I'll be able to teach you hohō, which is using you reiryoku to increase your speed and agility in ways that chakra users would find nearly impossible, and kidō spells, which are like special jutsu that are divided into binding spells called bakudō, offensive spells called hadō, and healing spells. There are 99 bakudō spells and 99 hadō spells, so along with all the rest you'll mostly be learning from me from now on while in here; also, unlike your father, you'll be able to hear my voice and talk to me while out in the real world. So, any questions?"

All Naruto was thinking right about then was: _My parents' were so cool!_ When he answered her question his father just laughed as he just said, "When do we start!" once again with stars in his eyes.

**XXX**

Over the next few months Naruto began learning to use his reiryoku. He found that he already had a lot because all of the energy he'd gotten from Kyuubi, both from the seal naturally draining the demons' energy and from when he partially removed the seal, was spiritual energy. He quickly found that kidō of all kinds were difficult for him to learn and that while he could use them they cost him more energy than they should, his mother said that practice would help that some but that different people with this bloodline had different specialties. Hohō training was going a little better and Naruto could easily maneuver while in mid air, though he hadn't gotten to the point where he could actually walk on thin air, and his shunpo training was coming along nicely, Kushina assured him that it wouldn't be long before he'd be able to use this ability and make his father's flying thunder god technique seem slow. She said she'd never done well enough in hohō and had been more of a kidō expert in life.

Naruto did also eventually learn why his mom was his zanpakutō spirit, and the reason was somewhat tragic. It turns out that the zanpakutō spirit is usually the first person who loved the wielder and died, which is usually the mother because women with this bloodline almost always die giving birth to their first child. Kushina had explained that when Minato had learned that he had insisted that they would adopt and never have children of their own, but that she had 'convinced' him to change his mind. She refused to say how she convinced him, but during that part of the story Minato blushed deeply and when he tried to speak the first time after that he actually squeked before he could get his voice under control.

He also learned that now that she was a zanpakutō spirit his mom had another name, one that once he could hear would unleash a new power called shikai, though there was no way of knowing exactly what form that power may take.

For now his sword in the real world hadn't changed, though he was told it would once he'd achieved shikai, if not before. His grades in class had also risen him to be in the top third of the class as he was finding it harder and harder to hold back, but his rising in the rankings also somehow caused all those under him to try harder, so his graduating class had the highest final scores in the history of the academy.

**XXX**

The graduation exam day was only scheduled to be a half day as all that was left was to enshure the students had the basic three down. One student after another was called into another room and tested, and so far everyone had passed with flying colors and then it was Naruto's turn.

"Okay Naruto," Iruka said, "you just have to demonstrate that you can do the basic three correctly and you pass. First, I want you to use henge into three different people: myself, the Hokage, and then someone younger than you are, then I'll throw this blunted kunai at you and you'll need to dodge with kawarimi and Mizuki will throw another immediately afterword that you'll also have to dodge with kawarimi, and last I want you to make at least two perfect bunshin. Got it?"

"Hai sensei, but does it have to be the regular bunshin or will any type do?"

Iruka and Mizuki both blinked at that, neither had ever seen the boy successfully create any kind of bunshin and while Iruka had been dreading having to fail the boy on that count, Mizuki had been counting on it so that his plans could go forward, so they were both surprised by the question. Iruka recovered first and asked, "What kind of bunshin were you planning to use Naruto?"

Smiling, Naruto said, "Kage bunshin."

Both teachers eyes buldged at that, but after a moment Iruka decided that the boy certainly had the reserves, so he couldn't really hurt himself with that jutsu so he agreed to let Naruto proceed.

He used the normal henge to become a perfect copy of Iruka, then the Hokage, and finally Konohamaru, who he'd often seen about the Sarutobi residence when the old man invited him over. Iruka nodded and without warning chucked the blunted kunai at him and he replaced himself with a log, causing the blunt kunai to bounce off. Mizuki immediately hurled his kunai at the boy at a much faster pace and when he replaced himself this time the kunai sunk all the way to the hilt into the wood.

At the look on Iruka's face Mizuki faked an embarrassed look and said, "Sorry about that, I must have grabbed the wrong kunai."

"No harm done," Naruto said calmly, though internally there were three voices shouting about the various things they'd like to do to the assistant teacher, but Naruto could only hear what Kushina was saying in that reguard so he caught every single one.

Iruka meanwhile was looking at Mizuki with unsure eyes, but finally turned back to Naruto and said, "Okay, last part, but be careful Naruto, kage bunshin is a jonin level jutsu because of how dangerous it can be to use, so don't try to make more than the required two."

Naruto nods and makes his two perfect clones. Iruka examines both carefully and looks at Naruto to see what effects the jutsu might be having on him and, seeing that the jutsu was performed correctly and could be maintained without obvious signs of stress from the boy, smiled and said, "Congradulations Naruto, you pass. Take a hitai-ate and call in Ino."

"Hai sensei."

All told not one student failed and Iruka congradulated them on passing and told them team assignments would be in two days starting at 10am and their new jonin sensei would then pick them up after lunch.

Few of even these new genin could miss the hate filled glare that Mizuki was sending to one of their number and while most were just glad it wasn't directed at them Naruto was a little curious why it was directed at him. Mizuki had always seemed nice before. Sure, he'd been on of the teachers who insured Naruto got the harder tests, but so had Iruka for a time and he was alright. Iruka even liked Ichiraku ramen and, as Choji Akimichi was fond of saying, 'No bad person likes Ichiraku ramen', or something like that anyway, and anyone who treated Naruto to free meals was okay by him. But come to think of it, Naruto had once seen Mizuki spit out Ichiraku ramen when Iruka had gotten take out for the two of them while they graded papers.

Suspicious, Naruto decided to trail Mizuki for the rest of the day. When night came he was just about to give it up as a bad job when he saw Mizuki sneak into an alleyway and emerge transformed into Naruto himself. Curious, he followed the chunin to the Hokage tower where he watched Mizuki break into a safe on the wall of the Hokage's office and remove a large scroll. He was just about to try to stop Mizuki when the Hokage showed up and asked, "Naruto, what are you doing?"

Mizuki smirked in a most un-Naruto like way and, forming a ram hand sign, called out, "Sexy jutsu," and he did in fact transform into a beautiful, naked blond girl, but while the Hokage prepared for the expected nose bleed followed by unconsciousness it didn't come. Both men were momentarily confused until they heard raucous laughter coming from under the window where they saw Naruto pointing at Mizuki and laughing like a loon.

Mizuki didn't know what had gone wrong but decided it was time to leave and bolted for the window, but he was stopped when Naruto shouted, "Disintegrate, you black dog of Rondanini! Look upon yourself with horror and then claw out your own throat! Bakudō #9: Geki!" Suddenly Mizuki was transformed back into himself and fell to the ground, unable to move as a red light surrounded his body.

Naruto started laughing again, though calmer now, and the Hokage just looked on shocked, he knew what Naruto had just done and what it meant so instead of asking about that he asked, "Why didn't the sexy jutsu work?"

Mizuki had gone silent from his protests that the 'demon brat' made him do it in order to hear the answer, but Naruto just pointed to the traitor and Sarutobi nodded, retrieved the forbidden scroll of seals, and called for some ANBU, directing them to take Mizuki to Ibiki, then he turned back to Naruto and gave him a look that clearly said 'explain'.

"Well, first of all, during the test today Mizuki-teme threw a real kunai at me during the kawarimi section and then glared at me afterword like he suddenly hated me. Since he'd never shown that he really hated me before I became suspicious so I followed him the rest of the day, and that led to here, but what you asked was why the 'sexy jutsu' didn't work and the answer is simple: he didn't use the sexy jutsu."

This explanation confused the old man often called the Professor or the God of Shinobi who had never truly been able to study the sexy jutsu since it invariably left him momentarily unconscious. So Naruto demonstrated and transformed with henge into his Naruko form and said, "Pull my hair." The Sandaime complied and, like he expected, his hand passed right through. Then Naruto used the real sexy jutsu, though this time he formed clothes for Naruko, and again said, "Pull my hair," but this time when the Sarutobi did so he felt real hair.

The open mouthed shock from the old man caused Naruko to giggle cutely before she transformed back into Naruto who said, "The real sexy jutsu is just that: real. Even if people think it's a henge some part of their mind responds with the truth and, as long as they're not gay, they react to some degree, usually anywhere from a nosebleed to full on unconsciousness, but one guy who'd been harassing me and I used it on…well I think he had a heart attack, but I freaked out and ran away. I later saw he was okay, but I got so freaked out about that time that I ended up staying transformed for a full month and I think I ended up having a period, so I figured out that the transformation was real."

Sarutobi was stunned by the possible ramifications and said, "I'm labeling the sexy jutsu as an A-ranked kinjutsu and asking you not to teach this technique to anyone."

"Ah, well…"

"You've already taught someone? Who?"

"Konohamaru. He saw me use it on you one time and he wanted to know something that could take out a Kage so he bugged me and bugged me until I finally gave in."

Sarutobi was weeping anime tears by the end of Naruto's explanation, just thinking of all the potential problems that technique could add to his grandson's sneak attacks.

One bright light came though when Naruto said, "Sorry jiji, but at least I got him to realize that becoming Hokage was more than being able to beat you, that it was an achievement that could only be had after years of blood, sweat, tears, and countless hours of hard work. After that he said he'd stop the sneak attacks."

Sarutobi sighed in relief and said, "Thank you for that then." Collecting himself he was suddenly the Hokage again and said, "You have the gratitude of all of Konoha for helping to prevent the forbidden scroll of seals theft and for the capture of a traitor. I will mark down in your records the completion of a solo B-rank mission and prepare the payment for such a mission for you to pick out tomorrow. Now, I need to ask about the manner in which you captured Mizuki."

"Well, I know it's a bloodline that comes from my mom because part of it involves the spirit of someone who once loved me coming back and becoming a part of me through my blade…" he then went on from there to tell the Hokage everything that he'd kept from him since the time when he first met his father.

At the end the Sandaime said, "I see, I'm sorry you didn't feel you could come to me with this sooner, but I understand, I was keeping secrets from you, though I do hope you understand it was only because…"

But Naruto cut him off and said, "It's okay jiji, my dad had a lot of enemies, and while my mom did too, since I look more like dad I could easily pass as an orphan who was given a name to honor a dead family in Konoha. Mom and dad explained it, and I'm okay with keeping up appearances."

Sarutobi smiled, glad the boy had his parents in his life, even if in a highly unusual manner. He coughed and said, "Well you won't be able to hide behind the anonymity of being an orphan anymore. Kushina was widely known for her unique ninjutsu, many believed it was a bloodline and now that you can do it you have confirmed that. The council won't be able to impact your life too much, but once the news gets out don't be surprised if many people start treating you different. For one thing, while your mother was never as famous a medic as my student, Tsunade of the Sannin, neither did she make many enemies, and she saved quite a few lives, some of which I doubt even Tsunade could have saved. If you manage to develop even a hint of those abilities you will be immensely valuable to the team you'll be placed on."

"Well, mom says I'm not developing the same way she did, but I should get other abilities that she couldn't do."

"Interesting, but that brings up the question of how strong you actually are right now."

"I'm not really sure, dad says my taijutsu is probably somewhere between high genin to mid chunin, he says I'm a little too erratic for him to get a good handle on it, I've achieved the lowest level of mastery in fuuinjutsu, my stamina is somewhere in the jonin to Kage level, as is my overall ability to use chakra. I don't know any jutsu beyond the basic three, with kage bunshin replacing the regular bunshin, and sexy jutsu and its' variant. Hayate sensei says my kenjutsu skills are better than his were when he was my age, but that I still have a lot to learn and my bloodline abilities are mostly still a work in progress."

To say that the Sandaime was stunned was too great an understatement, but once he let it all sink in he smiled and, chuckling, said, "It sounds like your team sensei is in for a few pleasant surprises. Well, at the least you should be well on your way to being ready for promotion when the time comes. It sounds like what you need most is some real world experience and teamwork lessons and you'll be there."

"That's pretty much what dad said too and he wanted me to tell you he's glad you took his advice about having the clones help out with the paperwork."

The Sandaime merely chuckled and they said their goodnights with Sarutobi reminding Naruto that he needed to come in sometime tomorrow to get his picture ID for his ninja license taken care of and Naruto nodded and headed off for home.

Sarutobi got up and got a picture from the vault. It showed a pregnant Kushina and a somewhat nervous Minato, though it wouldn't be obvious to anyone who hadn't known him that he was nervous. He focused on Kushina and said, "Teach him well Kushina, he has a lot ahead of him and he'll need your help."

**AN: Okay, it's a new Naruto story and I haven't worked on my other Naruto stories for months, but here's a basic truth about me: I am lazy and only write when I'm inspired, which usually only happens when I can't find something to read so the truth is updates will usually be sporadic. Also, my interest in fanfiction tends to fluctuate between Harry Potter and Naruto so I won't work much on 'Betrayal' until my focus shifts back that way and my other Naruto stories are inspiration based.**

**This story came about because I like Bleach / Naruto crossovers, but very few take part in Naruto's world where this one will stay exclusively, meaning no Karakura Town or Soul Society. It also means that while I might bring some Bleach characters into this story they won't exactly be who they are there. Also, I doubt any future chapters will be as long as this one ended up, but I just wanted it to get to a certain point. **

**Final note: This story will be a harem because it has been proven time and time again that Naruto is capable of making multiple women happy, and since it will soon be known he has a bloodline the council will insist, though they have no right to interfere directly.**


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